by Olivia Barker, USA TODAY

by Olivia Barker, USA TODAY

"My best friend died yesterday," she writes above a picture of a poster-perfect black poodle mix.

"Joplin was special. He fought his whole life to survive & now he can rest. I loved him."

The singer adopted the dog two years ago and almost lost him soon after, on New Year's Eve. Seems Joplin got spooked by some fireworks.

"I lost it (like a little girl) and started bawling when she (Clarkson's sister) told me," the newlywed wrote to America's Country Countdown radio host Kix Brooks. "Seriously, I was so dramatic (hard to believe, I know), but I don't have children and (my dogs) are my babies that I sleep with every night."

Hours later, she found Joplin tangled in some vines and paddling through a pond near her Texas spread.

"Yes, I might be too attached to my dogs and highly sensitive, but I don't care. I love them!" she wrote at the time.